U is for Unique Encounter
by simanis
Summary: While in a supermarket, Don had an encounter with ‘Charlie and Margaret.'  A Summer Alphabet Challenge Story.


**U is for Unique Encounter**

_While in a supermarket, Don had an encounter with 'Charlie and Margaret'_

Don was at the supermarket reading the labels on the bottle of sauces that he liked for his spaghetti when he heard a woman's voice yelling.

"CHARLIE!"

He jerked his head up and expecting to see a tousled, curly head of hair somewhere but he suddenly saw a small tyke running a full speed towards his trolley. With his quick reflexes, he pushed the trolley aside and bent down to meet the little tornado head-on, putting a stop to his onward dash with his arms. He was not expecting any problems with this little bundle but suddenly he found himself on the floor and the little bundle was on his chest.

"Oof!" A burst of air escaped from Don.

"Oh my goodness! CHARLIE!" Screamed the lady and this time she quickly pulled the little tyke off Don's chest.

Don did not get up immediately but sat up and looked at Charlie with amusement. "Charlie?" Don smiled as he remembered when Charlie was young and barely 4 years old. He used to run up at Don at full speed but he was not as powerful as this little Charlie.

"Mister? Mister? Are you alright? I'm so sorry, Charlie's a handful sometimes."

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry, I'm alright. I just got caught by surprise at Charlie's powerful dash."

Don got up and looked at the pretty, slightly pregnant lady holding on to Charlie. "Do you want me to put him on the trolley seat?" Don asked.

"No, thanks, that's what I did earlier on and he started fidgeting all over and was throwing a tantrum so much that I had to take him out. He was good for a while and then he started his mad dash." The lady explained to Don.

Don went down the Charlie's level and looked at him. "Charlie, you better be a good boy here for your Mummy. Mummy can't run after you, okay?"

Charlie looked at Don, blinked his eyes and nodded his head.

"OK Charlie, say bye-bye, we've got to finish our shopping. You be a good boy as the nice man said and I'll buy you your favorite chocolate bear cookies." She then turned to Don and said, "Thanks for catching him. Bye now."

They walked off pushing their trolley, Charlie with one hand holding on to the side. Don smiled and continued his shopping with a box of spaghetti, a box of Charlie's favourite ice cream and he got himself a box of rich chocolate ice cream. He remembered to get the beer this time and dumped a six pack into the shopping trolley. He didn't want Charlie accusing him of scrounging his beer.

Their father had gone on yet another fishing trip with his friends and wouldn't be back for another day. Don had got off early and agreed to do the shopping for their spaghetti meal. Charlie had rented some old baseball movies to watch after dinner and Don had agreed to stay over for the weekend and so it was planned that he buy the stuff and Charlie cooked.

When he went to the counter to tally up his purchases he saw Charlie sitting quietly while his mother did the same thing at the next check-out counter.

Out in the parking area he had completely filled up his boot with his purchases when he heard the familiar screaming again.

"CHARLIE!"

Don turned and he saw Charlie running towards the supermarket across the parking area. The mother was frantic this time and she turned to run after Charlie. Don was nearer so he slammed his SUV's door and ran towards Charlie.

Just then a car was turning and was going towards Charlie, there were other people around the supermarket at the time and some were running towards Charlie. Just as the car was almost on to Charlie, Don did an almighty sprint and caught Charlie in his arms. He was not far enough to clear however as he was grazed by the car mirror on his hip.  
Don was spun around but he held his ground and gritted his teeth against the sudden pain that flared on his right hip.

Charlie looked very scared in Don's arms, his mouth turned down and he started to bawl.

People were milling around. Those who had run towards Charlie saw that he was alright in Don's arms, shook their heads and went off.

The driver of the car that hit Don saw that he was still standing and stopped a short distance away. The driver wound down his window and yelled at Don. "Hey Mister! Next time, hold on to your kid!" With that he sped off.

Don turned and took note of the car's license plates, just in case. He then turned to Charlie, "Hey none of that. Come on, don't cry, here's Mummy for you." Don said handing Charlie over to the lady who was panting beside Don. "Hey, you okay? Take slow breaths, slow down. That's it. Come, I'll carry Charlie to your car. You okay now?" Don stopped for a while to allow the lady to catch her breath.

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you okay? I thought I saw the car hit you."

"Oh, its okay now, just a glance from the side mirror." _Should be blue and black tomorrow but hopefully nothing worse_, Don thought to himself. "Now, why was Charlie running towards the supermarket?"

Just then an employee from the supermarket came up to the lady and handed a package to her. "Thank-you." She said to the employee and took the package from her.

"This is what Charlie was doing. He was running to retrieve the package I left out. I mentioned that I left one package on the checkout counter and I jokingly said, 'Oh no, I left your Bear crackers back there' and the next minute he was running towards the supermarket."

"Oh, he's smart. He understood what you've said." Don commented.

"Oh yes, he doesn't talk a lot but he's smart and he picks things up very fast. I can talk to him and tell him things and he understands most of the time. He got the smart genes from his father, certainly not from me."

"His father's smart?"

"Yeah, I should think so. He's a brain surgeon at LAGH. I'm the Night Supervisory Nurse in the Pediatrics section. Sorry, thanks for all your help. My name's Marge, short for Margaret."

Don looked at her, open mouthed. Talk about coincidences. Don just couldn't help himself when he asked her, "Do you have a Don or Alan somewhere in your family?" Marge looked surprised. He added, "Sorry, I should have introduced myself. I'm Agent Don Eppes, FBI, at your service. It's such a coincidence, my brother's a Charlie too. He's a Math professor at CalSci." Don handed her his calling card.

Marge smiled and said, "No Alan. But there's a great uncle whose name is Donovan and my sister is Elizabeth. My father's a Professor at CalSci as well, teaching History. He and my mother both loved the English Monarch so much that they named both of us after Elizabeth and Margaret. That influenced me therefore here's Prince Charles." She said pointing to Charlie. Then she whispered to Don, "I'm married to a King Arthur!"  
She got Don laughing and then she added, "Well, almost! My husband's a typical Englishman and his name is Arthur Granwell III."

Don asked in a playful serious tone, "And how did an Englishman land up on American soil?"

Marge enjoyed talking with Don at the car park and she continued, "I followed my sis to her Medical Convention in London some years back and met him there and so we blah blah for few years. He then found a very good paying post here and he sort of migrated so we could get married." She smiled. During their conversation they'd gotten Charlie into his bucket seat.

"Well, I better get a move on before my ice-cream melts." Don said.

They said their respective goodbyes and Marge saying it would be nice to keep in touch for they'd such a unique encounter. She jokingly added that she could introduce her sister to him.

Don just smiled and after a few more pleasantries they parted company. "Bye Charlie."

Charlie gave him a tiny wave.

"A 'unique encounter' indeed." He muttered. "Umm another Liz?" _Must remember to tell Charlie,_ he thought to himself rubbing at his sore hip before climbing into his SUV.

The End

_My thanks to Wendy for the beta.:D_


End file.
